Explaining Karachi's recent situation to an Outsider

A foreign friend of mine recently emailed me and asked me to explain the Karachi situation to her. She asked me what a "mahajir" is, why there was so much trouble in Karachi, and why it happens so frequently. I tried to be brief, but still my answer took more than a couple paragraphs. Anyway, I decided, now that I had finally written something worthwhile, why not blog it?

So here it is: Explaining the Karachi situation to an Outsider

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First things first, who are the mahajir? The dictionary says it is someone who migrates from one place to another, i.e. an immigrant. However, in the murky world of Pakistani politics, a "mahajir" is a person who speaks Urdu. Basically a person with roots in Delhi, Bihar, Lucknow, or other Urdu-speaking parts of India. Take me for example. Even though I was born and raised in Pakistan, and consider myself to be a first class Pakistani citizen, society and politics label me a "mahajir" because I have roots in Bihar, India. This is racism at its finest!

Now, Karachi is the biggest city of Pakistan. It is the financial nerve center of the country. The biggest airport and seaport, HQs of nearly every bank, publications, and businesses are here. Around 70% of Pakistan's revenue is generated in Karachi. You control Karachi, you control money.

Next up, the politics. There are 4 major political parties in Karachi (some others too, but these 4 have strongholds here). 

First of all, the Mutahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) (formerly Mahajir Qaumi Movement) has proclaimed itself to be the voice and sole representative of the "mahajirs", and claims (in theory anyway) to fight for "our" right to good jobs, political representation, and such stuff. They are the "Bhai-log" like you see in movies. To give the devil his due, when they were in the Local Govt., they were happy and Karachi saw a relatively peaceful time, and lots of major projects were undertaken and completed. The mayor, Mustafa Kamal, turned the city around and built it again; roads, underpasses, bypasses, flyovers... good times, good times. However, when MQM has not been in power, they have acted like bullies, and ravaged the city (with help from other political parties, of course). 

Next up, the Pakistan's Peoples Party (PPP). Currently the ruling party in the coalition government. Their time in government has been one of the most corrupt, turbulent, hostile and terrible times ever. Rising inflation, prices, taking loans from IMF... trademark moves of the PPP. The current President of the country/Co-Chairman of the PPP is commonly known as Mr.10% (among other things) because of his reputation of taking kickbacks from any project he gets a whiff of.

Then we have the Jamat-e-Islami. These people claim to bring Islam to Pakistan, and govern the country according to Shariah (if they ever come into power). They say they hate America, and take out processions claiming so.  They make a mockery out our pure religion, and use it as political weapon.

And finally, the Awami National Party (ANP). They claim to represent the Pathans, especially in Karachi. Although they have been active in Pashtun areas for a long time, they have only recently become a force in Karachi.

Now, Karachi is a melting pot. Its like Bombay (sorry, Mumbai just sounds wrong, no offence to anyone) or New York, in that people from all over the country come to ply their trade here and hope to make it big. Also, because of the Afghan War of the '80s (think Rambo 3), lots of Afghanis came to Pakistan as refugees, and some eventually found their way to Karachi. Thus, Karachi's population (politically speaking) consists of Mahajirs, Pathans/Afghanis, Sindhis, Balochis, Punjabis... they are all here. Now most people prefer to live with their kind of people, so there are some areas which have mahajir majority, or pathan majority, etc.

Fun Fact: There are two major roads in Karachi, Shahrah-e-Faisal, & M.A. Jinnah Road. You block these two, you stop the city. Naturally, its the favorite place to hold processions and disrupt everybody's lives.

Sometimes, the trouble in Karachi is because of Shia-Sunni fights. The Shias kill the Sunnis, and the Sunnis kill the Shias. Its not done by common people, its done by certain groups who believe in sectarianism. Fun for both sides. Who suffers? Not the leaders... no no no, just the poor, innocent people who are just trying to live their lives.

I'll just focus on the recent troubles of Karachi, and not what happened in the 90's because thats just a whole new Pandora's box.

The thing happening right now is the Mahajir-Pathan fight, or to be accurate, the MQM-ANP fight. These two have their own issues, and instead of resolving them with reason and logic in a civilized meeting, they choose to do so in an all out gang war in the streets. And top of this, is the PPP. ANP is a coalition member in the federal govt., while MQM has on-again, off-again relationship (think vampires & werewolves) with the PPP. 

One name you must have seen in the news, and on many Facebook posts, is Zulfiqar Mirza. This gentleman, (in my very humble opinion) is a racist and hates "mahajirs". Whenever he opens his mouth, vitriol comes out. His recent statements ignited a raging fire, and trouble broke out everywhere.

The buses are driven by pathans, while rickshaws/taxis by both pathan and mahajirs. So now, the pathans are killing the mahajirs, and the mahajirs are killing the pathans. Or (again in my very humble opinion), MQM is killing Pathans, ANP is killing mahajirs. The leaders are safe, they just make statements, and poor, innocent people die. The PPP are like hyenas, and pick up whatever scraps they want. This conflict draws attention away from their own in-competencies and corruption, so they don't care.

This is whats going on these days. Sometimes, people also go berserk because they don't have electricity and no one is listening to them.The problem is that majority of the population is illiterate/"parhe likahay jahil". They don't think as rational human beings, and have a mob mentality.  These political parties like it that way, and use this to their advantage.

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This was my response to my friend, and I believe worth sharing too. I sincerely pray to the Almighty that He grants reason and logic to these leaders, and to the people too, and that everybody decides to work for the benefit of Pakistan, Amen.

Khuab adhooray sahee, khuab saharay to hain...